Speaking at the AMD "Cinema 2.0" event in New York City yesterday, Blizzard's Bob Colayco took some time to talk about the shrouded-in-mystery Starcraft II. One of the more interesting points of the discussion: why it took so long for Blizzard to finally announce a sequel to the multi-million selling title.

Colayco noted that the original Starcraft was built on a 2D engine, in spite of the competition having largely switched over to 3D engines. The savings in processing were applied to larger, more epic battles with dozens of units being rendered on the screen at the same time. The crowded battlefield "captured the gamer's imagination more" than the barren fields of competing 3D games at the time, and helped cement Starcraft's place in videogaming culture.

In spite of their success, the team at Blizzard wasn't going to rush into a 3D Starcraft unless it could capture the same feeling of the original. "The truth is that only recently have we had this kind of 3D power where we're able to create a real Starcraft experience in 3D. What we want to see are hundreds of vehicles and creatures clashing on the battlefield, with dynamic lighting and shadows and all of these dazzling special effects -- that's the kind of gaming experience that our players expect from us."

Amid all the hype for Diablo 3, you may have missed hearing about the StarCraft II developer panel helmed by Blizzard's Rob Pardo at this weekend's Worldwide Invitational in Paris. Joystiq was there to catch all the details on the latest build of the game. See what team Blizzard had to say about the newfound power of the Zerg Queen, the upgraded Protoss Mothership and the reason behind de-emphasizing heroic classes. All this after the jump.

Q&A with Rob Pardo
Q: How will the planet systems be used?
A: The star map in the story campaigns is you mission selector. You will explore the story and have a lot of different paths to follow. You can choose from 2-7 missions depending on where you are in the story. There is a starmap in all three campaigns. but different for each race. For example, in the Terran campaign you will take a lot of mercenary missions for money to pay for technology.

Q: What role will hero and multiclass players play?
A: We are de-emphasizing heroes in Starcraft2. That's what Warcraft 3 is for. There will be some missions where you play named characters like Raynor, but not much. Mostly dialogue and story characters, not much as gameplay chars.

Q: Is the Zerg building infestation ability working on Protoss?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be an Apple and PV version release at same time?
A: Yes, all of our PC games will also be available on Macs.

Q: Is there a Terran version of Queen/Mothership
A: No. Mothership not as unique as Queen and players can build multiple Motherships.

Q: What role is the roach unit supposed to have?
A: It doesn't have much health, but it does have very high regeneration. Its good to go up against enemy units with low damage output like marines, zealots, etc.

Q: Is the black hole still planned for the Protoss?
A: It used to be on the Mothership, but was taken away when the Mothership became a defense unit in the development of the game. It may come back later in a different way in the development process but no promises.

Q: What lies ahead in the evolution of units?
A: The Terran Thor unit is hard to find a role for. Right now it is much like the sieg tank/battle cruiser. It could get more abilities to differentiate it.

Q: The Merc Haven can't train reavers, just enables you to build them. Why?
A: The Merc Haven has gone through five or six designs, but we never fell in love with one. It needs more tinkering.

Q: What kind of units will come out from Protoss infested buildings?
A: I misspoke earlier. They [the Zerg] cannot infest Protoss buildings, but we're still deciding for sure.

Q: Will the Ghost unit get telekenisis or telepathic abilties like in the books and manga?
A: There is much experimentation right now with the unit and it's centered around the lore. There is a good chance, yes.

Q: Is it possible to play the story line in co-op mode?
A: No. It's been discussed, but it's too difficult to have two players both be the main character.

That's all from Paris. We'll have some hands-on write ups with the new Zerg demo they have set up. Check back soon.

The Terrans and their BFG's
Pardo then moved on to the final Starcraft race, the Terrans. The theme here they wanted to push was guns, guns and more guns. No Queen or Mothership here, just lots of units with lots of firepower.

The first unit Pardo talked about was the Jackal. It's a fast, mobile firebat that spits out fire lots of splash damage. With its speed and mobility it has the potential to take a big chunk out of your opponent's forces.

The next unit was The Thor. It's a large ground assault unit with two abilities. In addition to its anti-air flak cannons, it can self-repair. And if it is destroyed, its wreckage stays on the battlefield and can rebuild itself.

No Hero for you!
Finally, Pardo talked about some larger issues about the game they were working with. They didn't want the game to too heavily emphasize micromanaging units. They want players to have time to deal with the macro issues of resources, expansion and strategy. So they designed most units to be simple movers and shooters, not like the more complex units of Warcraft 3.

They also de-emphasized Hero classes for the same reason. Hero characters will mostly be met in the single player story mode and even then, as characters to talk to instead of taking control of them in battles.

In terms of development, the team is focusing currently on spell casters and special abilities that come later in the game as well as upgrades for base units. The story campaign is about one-third done.

The last point Pardo wanted to make before the panel was open to questions was about the evolution of Battle.net. With the release of SC2, Battle.net will be transformed to become what they hope is the premiere gaming platform for PC online play.

The Protoss are a force to be reckoned with
Pardo moved on to talk a bit about how the Protoss are progressing in the development of the game. Their psionics are the key theme to their race and Blizzard pushed that further, but also pulled back on the emphasis on spellcasting.

First he showed an example of their new force field ability used to control the battlefield. A video showed a swarm of zerglings rushing a Protoss base, but the Protoss force threw up a series of connected force fields that formed a funnel forcing the zergs into a choke point where they were easily destroyed.

While high damage Protoss spells like Psi Storm are returning, Blizzard also wanted to introduce some early game casters. Nullifiers were mentioned. And Stalkers were given a teleport ability that had interesting strategic potential. In another video of game play, force fields were raised forcing an attacking army to go around it. The Stalkers then teleported themselves to the other side of the force fields, behind the attacking army, and took them out from behind.

The return of the Mothership
The Protoss Mothership also makes an appearance. While not as powerful as the Zerg Queen, it has been given powerful support abilities. It is now a mobile battlefield teleporter, able to zap in troops to wherever it is at. It is also heavily armored and has an emergency ability called Time Bomb which renders it immune from damage for a short period of time. Since it isn't as versatile as the Zerg Queen, Protoss players will be able to have more than one Mothership in play at once.

Many froth-mouthed fans of Blizzard's intergalactic real-time strategy masterpiece Starcraft have anxiously been awaiting word on when the next installment of the series would land in their anticipatory laps. Blizz has been characteristically tight-lipped about the title's launch window, though we were recently informed that an online SKU search for Starcraft II on Best Buy, Circuit City, and Gamestop's web sites reveal the same supposed release date of December 3, 2008. With no confirmation from Blizzard, it's far from official -- though we imagine this won't stop dedicated zerglings from dropping by the office tomorrow, and requesting off the last month of the year.

[Thanks, Chad.]

Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament being held in Paris, France, will go on sale this Thursday The event will be at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre on June 28 and 29, with tickets costing €70 / £55 ($110). Attendees will get hands-on time with WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II.

The tournament will have $100,000 in prizes, but all we really care about is the big announcement. Blizzard has a habit of revealing big things at its special events, as it did at last year's invitational in Korea when it announced StarCraft II. Then again, Blizzard could just make us sad Pandaren by neglecting to reveal anything at all.

[Via WoW Insider]

The Queen of Blades' return in StarCraft II slowly approaches -- very, very, slowly approaches. Following the release of the Zerg race trailer in Korea (naturally), a non-shaky-cam version can now be enjoyed (above). We've also posted videos of Zerg gameplay footage after the break.

IGN has a list of Zerg units and buildings currently known and Blizzard has also posted a lot information in its forums. Finally, GameVideos has footage of the Hydralisk burrowing and the Mutalisk in action. For those desperately waiting for a StarCraft II release date, more information is expected to hit later this year at BlizzCon.

The biggest news about StarCraft II so far has come to us from Korea, and today is no exception (man, we're so jealous, Koreans get all the breaks) with the introduction of the Zerg race at the Grand Intercontinetal Hotel of SamSeongDong in Seoul.

Besides the above shaky-cam trailer, Blizzplanet has harvested tons of screenshots and information for you to rabidly consume right here. There's also a long video of Zerg gameplay which you can see right after the break. So, what's the word, StarCraft die-hards? Do you approve?

[Thanks, Foetoid]

When using the words "Korea" and "StarCraft" in the same sentence, it's no time to make jokes. So, when The Korea Times says Starcraft II is "expected to begin service this year," we wonder if it knows something the rest of us don't. The idea of StarCraft II coming out this year is possible, but Blizzard hasn't given the slightest indication for us to assume such a thing. We're glad The Korea Times thinks Starcraft II is on its way (and we hope its right!), but if there's anything we've learned its that Blizzard uses BlizzCon or its World Wide Invitational later in the year for big announcements.

The Korea Times' actual story isn't about a Starcraft II release, but about foreign titles cutting into the "long-run popularity of locally made games." The piece says Lord of the Rings Online plans to start in Korea this year and games like World of Warcraft and Hellgate:London are already incredibly popular. It's interesting to note -- although completely logical given the way StarCraft is played in Korea -- that The Korea Times treats Starcraft II as more of an MMO than a single-player game with multiplayer component.

[Thanks Akela]